Zambians should turn to generators in a big way like their Tanzanian counterparts have done to reduce the impact on load shedding, says Zambia’s High Commissioner to Tanzania Judith Japijimpanga.

Ms Kapijimpanga said it was not only Zambia that was faced with massive load shedding as the situation was even worse in Tanzania.

“We would have no electricity for one week but we have noticed that generators are widely used, so the moment power is switched off to rationalize, generators take charge,” she said.

The high commissioner who is in Uganda to welcome President Lungu on official visit to Kampala said Zambia should move towards more usage of generators and solar energy instead of heavily depending on hydro electricity.

“Even in Uganda power outages are so bad but generators and solar energy are widely used,” said Ms Kapijimpanga.

Ms Kapijimpanga called on Zambians to realize the importance of generators and solar power in the absence of hydro power.

That was to ensure that there was no break in production chain as a result of load shedding.

The population in Uganda is very high so they realized that they needed to diversify in their power generation such as generators and they also have continued scouting for other sources of energy,” she said.

Ms Kapijimpanga said Zambia should take an example from Uganda by using various sources of energy.

And Ms Kapijimpanga briefed the media that those criticizing President Edgar Lungu over presidential trips were ignorant.

She said President Lungu’s visit to Uganda would not be an exercise in futility as it would help Zambia pick the best practices and learn from other countries how they were managing their economies.

“It is not correct to say that Presidential trips are not beneficial to the nation; those condemning these trips must take time and study the benefits coming from them,” She said.

Ms Kapijimpanga said Zambia was not doing badly but it was always good to travel and learn from other people so Zambia can uplift the best practices.

Ms Kapijimpanga wondered how Zambia would pick up best practices to develop if the Head of State was not travelling to other countries.

“I can tell you something in East Africa most of the youths are graduates compared to Southern Africa, we can pick up the best practices in the education sector,” she said.

Ms Kapijimpanga said the President needed to be supported in order for Zambia to pick up the best practices.